Charadrius

The elite one percent jet off to Nantucket http://www.care2.com/causes/produced-in-your-backyard-rethinking-energy.html to escape the stresses of city life. But the Massachusetts island also happens to be an important habitat for a seabird -- the piping plover. Now that the birds are doing well on the island from 139 breeding pairs (1986) to 689 pairs (2015), the headaches and complaints have also increased. The complaints have gotten so bad that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering relaxing the rules by granting a 25-year permit to the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MADFW). Risky Flexibility Nantucketers may like to think of themselves as a rare breed, but the only threatened http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/pipingplover/pipingpl.html species on the beach is the piping plover. And the robin-sized bird is competing with important one percenters for prized beach space, like in Cape Cod National Seashore and Nantucket’s Great Point. Fences set up to protect plover nesting areas are interrupting pristine beach landscapes and taking over prime beach spots (e.g. above the high tide line). And Nantucketers are fed up with having to share their beaches with the plovers. So what kind of changes could be implemented? According to Take Part, http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/02/05/1-percent-versus-tiny-endangered-seabird Katharine Parsons, director of the coastal water bird program for the Massachusetts Audubon Society,…

Fish and Wildlife Service (2015) lists birds such as the Least Turn (Sterna antillarum), Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), and Rufa Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) as endangered and threatened. Previously, Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) were listed as endangered, however their populations have stabilized and are now protected under the federal Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Act. Mammals such as the Gray Bat (Myotis grisescens), Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis), and Northern Long Eared Bats…